Elemental Magic
'Elemental Magic' All of the world’s magic is provided by spirits, and the most fundamental of these govern the building blocks of the physical realm. Its development is most frequently credited to the elves of the Brightleaf Clans, although the elves themselves insist that it has existed since before the Old Kingdoms. Regardless of origin, the clans are the most prolific users of Elemental Magic at the current time, utilizing Elemental Mages for everything from homeland defense to shipping aid. At its core, Elemental Magic is the invocation of the spirits of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air to come to the assistance of the caster through a temporary or permanent change to the environment. The terms are literal – only these four most basic types of spirits can be called upon, and Elemental Magic’s subschools are divided between them. The methods for elemental casting become faster and more subtle with the experience of the caster. Beginning Elemental Mages need somewhat lengthy invocations and choreography, while the Master Elementalist at the Shining Redoubt can shift huge quantities of stone with the slightest motion. A common mistake among the practitioners of other magic schools is to hear the words “basic” and “fundamental” and assume that Elemental Magic is for beginners only. Such casters tend to study enough fire magic that they can set potential muggers ablaze, and then move on to something else. This is due to a misunderstanding borne of cultural divisions – while the elves are not the only Elemental Mages, they did write most of the literature on the subject, and when they use the words “basic” and “fundamental” they are referring to the nature of the spirits involved, not the techniques or the complexity of the magic. This is further compounded by the natural tendency of humans – the dominant species on the planet by most metrics – to misjudge the effectiveness of a tool based on personal experience. Having never witnessed a full Elemental Mage in action, dabbling in Elemental Magic proves only that it is actually quite difficult to so much as light a candle without an established evocation. Why learn how to make a tiny fire dance when they can learn how to make a fireball in half the time and cast that spell for half the effort? The answer lies in flexibility. The difference between a mage who has mastered Elemental Magic and one that has studied Earth Magic, Wind Magic, Fire Magic, and Water Magic is the difference between knowing a variety of spells and being able to create new spells on the spot. A true Elementalist can easily wield all four elemental magics, frequently at the same time (an advantage over most other kinds of magic), and turn an entire environment toward whatever task is at hand, whether that’s moving a ship, flattening a building, or defeating a foe. Trained armies are accustomed to mages throwing magic at them, but even seasoned soldiers tend to flee from burning tornados that occasionally spit icy razor blades and large rocks at them. Also, most other mages tend to underestimate the scope of Elemental Magic – all things have at least some Water, Earth, Air, or Fire in them, and frequently possess all four. In addition to being highly useful and difficult to properly defend against, Elemental Magic works well in conjunction with the use of any of its subschools – that is to say, if Fire Magic can be used in a given situation, Elemental Magic can be used right along with it. Due to the flexible nature of the casting, two Elemental Mages can easily get together to cast one big spell rather than two smaller ones. It also has definite drawbacks. Elemental Magic is difficult to learn and use compared to any of its subschools – someone devoted exclusively to the study of established Fire Magic spells will become roughly twice as proficient with Fire Magic as someone using Elemental Magic to achieve the same ends. Additionally, Elemental Magic tends to be more draining than most other types of Magic – while the spirits provide most of the actual effect, the effort required to wake them up and communicate exactly what the Elementalist wants can be exhausting, especially for inexperienced casters. 'Elemental Mages in the World' As already mentioned, the elves of the Brightcrest Range have the world's densest population of Elemental Mages, but they're far from the only concentration. Most major national powers in the world have at least one group of casters who know the discipline, and learning it really only requires finding a willing teacher and sufficient free time. The Evergreen Sentinels aren't above teaching it to outsiders that they deem worthy - a term that, in this case, means that they're confident that you won't set yourself on fire or turn your newly acquired power against them at the first opportunity (due to the elves' strange barter-based economy, a prospective Elemental Mage should be sure that he or she has something to offer for it, though). As a primal magic with no known affiliations to demons or ritualistic murders, few see the use of Elemental Magic as a sign of moral deficiency unless they view all magic as evil. Given the sheer extrinsic usefulness of Elemental Magic, it's practitioners have little trouble using their talents to find most kinds of work. 'Limits of Elemental Magic' Though all things possess spirits of fire, earth, air, and water within them, not all things are equal when it comes to determining how easily the elements within can be manipulated. Beginning Elementalists find it frustratingly difficult to, for instance, make even the tiniest crease in a chunk of metal, despite the fact that metal is mostly ore refined with fire. The answer lies with intent. As all things have spirits, crafted and special things have crafted and special spirits, and these endeavor to keep the new substance as it is. This doesn't make it impossible to manipulate substances such as metal, acids, etc., but it does make it more difficult and time consuming. Similarly, though most higher life forms have bodies full of water, manipulating that water will be opposed mightily by the creature's own spirit, making it far easier to kill someone by throwing fire or large stones at them than by trying to somehow extract their vital fluids. That said, most mages do find some more creative ways to locate and invoke elemental spirits as they grow in power and expertise, and there may come a point in their study when warping metal and people is possible... 'Mechanics of Elemental Magic' Elemental Magic costs 6 AP per rank, as it is useful in nearly all Utility situations and at Short, Medium, and Long range in combat. Note that this is the only way (at the present time) to utilize Earth Magic and Water Magic (the 'heavier' elements) at Long Range. Elemental Magic has the subschools of Earth Magic, Water Magic, Air Magic, and Fire Magic, each of which can be taken as a separate advantage. Like all advantages with subschools, it stacks with ranks in subschool advantages to determine what effects are possible - someone with two ranks in Elemental Magic and one in Fire Magic effectively has three ranks in Fire Magic for the purposes of determining what their Fire Magic can really do. Additionally, and also like all advantages with subschools, a single rank in each subschool can be "traded in" in exchange for a rank of Elemental Magic plus the difference in AP cost. Elemental Magic is difficult to defend against. It cannot be negated by resistance to any of its subschools unless resistance is purchased for all four subschools. Elemental Magic cannot be vetoed by objecting to the use of any of its subschools on an environmental basis, as the Elemental Mage can simply attack with another element. As primal spirits can typically be invoked from anywhere, Elemental Magic does not require line of sight or even line of effect, although the player attempting to use it without either of those things should have a ready explanation for how the mage knows enough about what's going on to perform their magic with any accuracy. 'Common Elemental Magic Spells' An Elemental Mage can be assumed to have all of the common spells of Air Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, and Water Magic available to them. However, despite the Elemental Mage's tendency to improvise, some tried-and-true tricks are available to those wishing to master the school itself... *Omnimental Minion - Elemental Mages tend to have no trouble creating constructed puppets out of mulitiple elements. A dragon made of wind and flame, for instance, or a moving gargoyle of stone and water can spontaneously appear and wreak havoc. The legendary Kazwyn was fond of having tornado-men fling flaming boulders and icy blades at his foes. *Worldquake - Elemental Mages are not restricted to worrying about what is available and how. More importantly, it becomes incredibly hard to defend against an attacker who can seemingly turn the entire environment against their opponents. Simply put, Elemental Magic cannot be defended against by a resistance or a lack of access to any of its component parts. *Gaia's Shield - Similarly, Elemental Magic can provide an adequate or superior defense in most combat situations, whether it involves air to shove arrows off course, a shield of earth or ice, or a burning bullwark of flame. There's typically something useful when the time comes to avoid death... 'Rare Elemental Magic Spells' Even Elemental Mages of great power and proficiency sometimes need specialized training. When they receive it, though, the effects can strain the boundaries of what could be considered natural magic. The following spells each require a separate advantage. *Reality Check - The world has laws and workings, and when these are violated, the spirits grow angry and restless. A sufficiently skilled Elemental Mage can use that to their advantage, and obtain the nearly unobtainable resistance to Teleportation. *Infinite Transmute - Having superceded the boundaries of what separates one Elemental Spirit from another, the Elementalist in question can now make conversions between Elements impossible to lesser mages. *Elsewhere - Possibly the most impressive Elemental Magic spell of all, this technique dissolves the caster into their constituent Elements, reassembling them elsewhere, complete with the same spirit, mind, etc. anchored to the reconstituted body. While considered a teleportation effect, the technique is neither as swift nor as flexible as the version powerful demons have been known to display, requiring the caster to stand still too long to be used in combat, and limiting the caster's destinations to spots outdoors. It naturally cannot be set to send the caster to conditional locations - "The southernmost dock in Hefriz" is an acceptable target. "The bedchambers of my greatest enemy" is not.